EXCLUSIVE: New Hi Fi Distributor Takes On Majors With Slick New Range

Indi a new Melbourne based consumer electronics distributor who recently secured the rights to several sound brands is now looking to acquire additional CE and furniture brands via acquisition.

The distribution Company was established in January 2014 by Paul Riachi the man behind the fast growing RIO Sound and Vision retail stores located in Preston and Hampton in Victoria

According to Marketing Director for INDI, Denise Riachi, who is the former Head of Marketing for The Adairs Retail Group and ex Advertising Manager for Officeworks the Company is determined to establish their new brands AMC, System Audio, Myryad and Sonoro as key brands in the Australian and New Zealand markets.

"We are not here to do a shotgun approach, what we have done is carefully select quality brands that we believe will have appeal in Australia".

"we have discovered that there is a big market out there made up of of people who don't necessarily want to buy the brands that mass retailers are selling to millions of consumers. What this market wants are quality brands that have a proven pedigree and above all perform".

"One of the big benefits that we have is that we are talking to consumers everyday via our Rio store, this provides intelligence on what people want and how much they will pay. Currently we are looking for new brands to add to our portfolio".

Among the brands available via INDI is the European brand Sonoro.

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Never heard of Sonoro? Neither had we, until we started to look at European review web sites that gave the Company top marks for their sound gear.

Turns out it's a German audio company that produces a 'lifestyle' sound range consisting of four products, all radios but varying in features and, curiously, each designed for a specific room in the house.

In Sonoro's own words, the 'room-sensitive' products have 'functionality customised for specific living environments'. Its water-resistant GoLondon tuner is aimed at the bathroom and kitchen, while the compact SonoroRADIO is for the bedroom. And so on.

The Company claims that their products won't self-combust upon crossing the threshold into another room - in fact, you can put them anywhere you like.

Recently What Hi Fi in the UK gave the Sonoro 4/5 for the bedside stereo player. They described it as "Big, clear and musical sound, plenty of detail, decent compatibility and gorgeous casing and finish"

SA a Scandinavian speaker brand has been praised for their design and sound quality by European sound critics. One of their speakers recently won Scandinavian speaker of the year. In the UK the brand is proving highly popular at specialist retail stores.

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Another of the INDI products now being offered in Australia is the UK audio brand Myryad.

Their product offering is made up of two different ranges, the 'Z Series' and the 'MX Series'.

The 'Z Series' has the Z210 CD player, Z230 Tuner, Z240 Amplifier and the Mini Z20 DAC. The 'MX Series' is made up of Amplifiers, a Preamplifier, Tuner and a CD player.

Denise Riachi said "We are not interested in importing 5 brands of electronics that will conflict, we don't believe any supplier can support multiple brands, we plan to support one brand in one category 100%. We are also planning to launch a training school, this will be used to assist all retailers and give them the tools and information on how to sell these brands".

Indi initially sold the complete audio product range exclusively to RIO Sound & Vision stores, now other specialist retailers across Australia have moved to stock the Indi brands.

"The brands we are offering are extremely successful overseas and we believe that with carful marketing and our passion to grow these brands coupled with the support of the specialist dealer channel we will be able to grow our business in the future.

"We believe you must look like you're in the business and not just taking an order from another retailer. Belief and Passion is what INDI is all about, thus keeping the price realistically competitive internationally"

In the lighting side of their business Indi is already supplying mass retailers with between 400,000 to 800,000 INDI lights a year.

Moving forward they claim that all these brands will only be sold to 1-2 retailers within each state as not to over retail the brands, we want people and our retailers to ask for these brands and also keep in mind that they can feel that it's worth investing.

"We know our model works as we have sold over 8 Containers of goods in the last 6 months, so if we can do it anyone can do it with the brands we are offering".